"Hey!" I say as I sit next to him on the bench. He snaps his head my way and gives me a grin.

  "So, you said you wanted someone to talk to. I'm here to listen and trust me. Have I ever judged you in the week that I talked to you really?"

  "Well, you did say my dancing was bad after the little party we had." He said with a grin in his face.

  It's so weird to think that I just saw him an hour ago and he was with Blue Night but he didn't think it was actually me. Maybe it is fine to tell him? It's not like he'll tell anyone.

WHAT!?

Okay, I take that back. I can't tell him.

  "Well, yours was okay but not as good as my dance moves."  I said as I poked his chest.

  He nudged me with his elbow and chuckled. It's good that I made him laugh because it made me happy that I could just make him laugh and pull him away from his most likely deep and bad thoughts.

  "How was your day?" I sat giving him a small smile.

  He lookes away and for a second then back at me, "Well, it was a lot less interesting and fun then when you came. I can tell you that much." He said and gave me the famous Elliot Anderson wink.

  I laughed at this and pushed his shoulder, "You're not seriously using one of your pick up lines on me Elliot?"

  He smiled and nods his head as I laugh even harder. He grins at me and shrugs his shoulders, "I thought I would give it another try but nothing works against you little fighter. Not at the party and not now. It's one of your best and worst qualities in my eyes."

  I roll my eyes at him but I still couldn't hide a small smile. It was good to have Elliot as a friend. I just wish he wasn't Randy Visous and he understood my life as street fighter. He'd still be in the crowd to wink at me. It would make this situation a whole lot better, but instead I am tangled up in different identities and it gets really confusing and frustrating.

  "What are you thinking in that head of yours little fighter?"  Elliot said dragging me out of my thoughts.

  I give him a small smile, "Some shit in my life."

  He nods his head, "Yeah, I tend to do that as well."

  I look out to the kids playing on the playground and back to Elliot, "Why are we here at the kids playground?" I ask and Elliot takes his eyes from a little girl that was sliding down the slide to me.

  "My niece is right there and I have to watch her." He said pointing to the little girl that was going down the slide. She looked about four or five. She waved at Elliot and me and I smiled at her. I looked at Elliot and he was grinning at her. His eyes moved where she went.

  "It's not like I don't want to. I love watching Faith." He said as he glanced back at me. 

   I nodded my head, "I can tell. It's sweet and she seems like a sweet girl." I said with a small smile.

  "Yeah, but she can throw a punch or two when you get her mad.' he says and I raise my eyebrows making him chuckle.

  "How come I don't know about your niece? I don't even know that you have a sibling. Usually I would hear everything about you in school."

  He shrugs, "You're the only one that knows about her now besides Ricky."

  I nod, "Why don't you talk about your brother or sister and their daughter?"

  He stares at Faith not looking at me and sighs, "It's a she. I have an older sister. She got pregnant when she was 17 and my parents basically kicked her out. At the time I was 9 and we were inseparable. She was the best. Then she was gone. She moved in with Faith's father. His name is John and he dropped out and let my sister finish senior year while he watched Faith. He got a job as a bartender and made good money. He still is a bartender now and my sister became a teacher after going to collage. She didn't go to collage after a year from graduating high school. She is doing her first year of teaching the first grade this year."

  "John proposed to her last year when she was still in collage. They moved to California and they're gettig married next month. They're back here and my parents don't want to go to the wedding cause they're assholes. They're in a rented apartment for two weeks to just visit us. By us I mean really me. I am watching Faith now while they go out together. Nobody knows about them. They are kind of my second family. People just think I'm an only child. Ricky is the only one who knows because we have been best friends since I was five and he would never tell anyone."

  He takes another deep breath, "My parents are terrible. They are telling me not to go to the wedding. I still got two weeks before I turn 18 and I'm hoping to get my own place and in that time I will be able to go to my sister's wedding."

  So, this is why he fights. This is why he let's his anger out. With out much thinking I scoot closer to him and grab his hand setting mine on top of his cold one. Mind was warm since it was in my jacket pocket. I warmed his up. I looked back at Faith not looking at him.

  I could feel his eyes on me though so I look sideways at him. He gives me a smile and intertwines our fingers and gives my hand a tight squeeze before looking back to the playground. I was the first one he told besides Ricky.

   I feel honored but yet bad because he doesn't know the real me. He thinks I'm just Stephanie and his little fighter. His new caring friend. All of that is true except for my name and the real identity of me, Sam, Blue Night.

  And that hurts me.

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When it started to get a little dark. Elliot got Faith and we started walking. It was silent for the rest of the time between me and Elliot. Faith said she wanted me to play with her and she started telling me crazy things about how Elliot is her big old teddy bear and he would look away embarrassed. We played together on the playground as Elliot watched.

  "I guess we could go eat or something because I can't go to my parents house because they'll flip and it is my sister's date night and who knows what her and John are doing."

  I nodded. "I feel bad you guy have to wait and eat out at a restaurant."

  He shrugged, "It's no big deal." He said as we continued to walk towards my house. They were going to drop me off first then go to the restaurant. Faith held his hand on one side as she held mine with her other. We swung our arms a little.

  Then, I remembered that I was supposed to be home twenty minutes ago for dinner with my mom and dad. I got a message from my mom saying that my dad had got the job. So, this was kind of a celebration dinner as a family in the last 4 years.

  I looked over at Elliot who was looking ahead with his lips in a straight line. Then, faith that was hugging his arm putting her face against it with a small frown. I couldn't resist.

  "You know what, you two should come to my house and eat dinner with my family."

  "Oh, no we don't want to ruin your dinner with your family." He said shaking his head and we stopped. I just realized that we were in front of my house.

  Faith was standing in front of Elliot now and his hand rested on her shoulders. It was adorable. I had to admit.

I sighed and grabbed his upper arm and he looked down at my hand and then back to me, "Please? If any thing you're helping me. I haven't had dinner with my parents in four years. They just decided to clean up their act and it lasted longer this time so I would really like a friend to be there with me. Sarah is probably mad at me because I didn't talk to her all weekend really so I can't just call her up and ask to have dinner with my my mom and dad who were barely my parents before yesterday. Please?"  I say and he gave me a look I couldn't really figure out and nodded his head.

  I gave him a small smile and he smiled in return. We just stood there for a while and smiled at eachother. It was weird but I liked it. Our moment was shortly lived with my front door opening.

  "Honey, come inside, you're late and -" she said with a smile and then she saw Elliot and Faith and she gave me a confused face.

  "Mom, this is my friend Elliot and his niece, Faith." I said and she flashed a small smile toward Elliot and held her hand out that he Shakes with a kind smile in return.

  She smiled at Faith and winked at her making her giggle and I could tell she liked my mom already. I hope my parents stay like this this time or atleast until my birthday in 5 weeks.

   "I wanted to see if they could stay for dinner tonight?" I asked after she gave me a hug.

  She smiled and nodded her head. "Of course. Come on in you three."

  Elliot gave me a small smile that I returned again and we walked inside to eat dinner with my parents.

  3 weeks ago I would have never thought that I would be sitting at the dinner table with my parents. My mom smiling, my dad with a job and without a drink, Elliot Anderson, and his niece who no one knew about except Ricky and me.

  Funny how things can change.

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I hope you liked this chapter and I will update soon :)

Song title - old ways